External costs and subsidies for different passenger- transport modes (cents per
vehicle mile, except last row is cents per passenger mile)

[Numbers in brackets are my best estimates]

COST ITEM

GASOLINE AUTO

ELECTRIC AUTO

TRANSIT BUS

LIGHT RAIL

HEAVY RAIL

Air pollution

0.8 to 13 [2.0]

1.5

5.4 to 123 [20.0]

5*

5*

Oil use, water pollution

0.3 to 1.5 [0.8]

0 . 4

1.5 to 8.7 [4.0]

r

r

Noise

0.01 to 2.0 [0.2]

0.1 5

0.5 to 10.0 [2.0]

r

r

Congestion

4.0

4 . 0

8.0

not estimated

not estimated

Accidents

2.5

2 . 6

3 .5

2 *

2*

Marginal highway and service costs

0 . 1

0 . 1

1 . 5

0

0

Unpriced parking

0 to 8 [0]

0 to 8 [0]

0

0

0

In efficient highway user taxes and fees,

meant to cover highway costs

- 2 . 7

0

0 (exempt from fuel taxes)

0

0

Government subsidy:

Operating costs minus fares

Operating + rolling-stock costs minus fare

Total operating + capital costs minus fare * *

0

0

0

0

0

0

33 9

[ 39 8 ]

4 6 5

685

1 , 13 7

2 , 8 0 0

372

797

1 , 177

Extra private costs relative to gas auto

0

0 to 16 [8]

see subsidy

see subsidy

see subsidy

Total cents per vehicle-mile

5 to 28.4 [6.9]

8.8 to 24.8 [16.8]

359 to 620 [437]

694 to 2,809

381 to 1,186

Passengers per vehicle

assume 1.0

assume 1.0

10.9 (avg.)

25.7 (avg.)

22.3 (avg.)

Total cents per passenger- m i l e -------->

5 to 28.4 [6.9]

8.8 to 24.8 [16.8]

33 to 57 [40]

27 to 109

17 to 53

* Data are not available for these numbers, which are estimated based on my studied
judgment.

* * Note that, because the official statistics do not report passenger fare payments
by individual transit mode, it is not possible to calculate the actual government
subsidy for each mode. I have assumed that ratio of fare payments to operating expenses
is the same for all modes.